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Vinson Kurian

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, May 16

NET flows of carbon calculated for India may not have changed since 1990, but this has not prevented prospective players, including comparatively small-sized environmental consulting firms, from nursing dreams of trading in carbon.

The Vadodara-based Associated Environmental Engineers Pvt Ltd (AEEPL) is one among the breed of such new generation companies, which aim to enter a field where only the biggies have dared to tread, at least till now. But, as Mr Santhosh Nair, Director, adds as a word of caution, the company's initiatives are still at the "very preliminary stages".

AEEPL is currently talking to Mumbai-based BSES for a joint initiative in carbon trading, which is emerging as a major opportunity for companies as provided for under the Clean Development Mechanism. "As far as I know, BSES and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) are among the major players in the country that have displayed serious interest in the carbon trading sweepstakes. We would also like to be part of this initiative.

"In fact, we have met with the BSES people already and seen what they are up to. We have been taking to them in this regard to find out whether we would have a role to play. Suffice to say that we are interested and look forward to doing something in the field," Mr Nair said.

AEEPL has being associated with Reliance Industries, the majority stake owner in BSES, for a long time. The company is waiting to see how the scenario unfolds before initiating the next step.

On the other hand, the environment services arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers uses the Real Option Valuation (ROV) and other proprietary methodologies, as well as industry analysis and risk assessment, to help companies understand and quantify the risks and opportunities connected with current and future business decisions.

The company is currently advising several major companies and business sectors with scenario development and identification of business strategies with a view to optimising their growth prospects under the most likely scenario outcomes. Most importantly, it is assisting customers to determine their carbon trading strategies including decisions on what, when, where and how to trade their emissions reductions, according to a spokesman.

There has, in fact, been a small decline in the net annual flows of carbon calculated for India between 1990 and 1996. According to experts, even if one were to presume that the methodologies adopted in the present estimation are acceptable under the Kyoto Protocol — which is doubtful considering the discrepancies that often occur between Indian and UN estimates — the net carbon removal is not much. If one takes into consideration forest fires, it may come down further.

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